[“When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found
them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, “Why are you
sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”
(Luke 22:45-46)]

As darkness falls,
Do we sleep from grief,
Or weariness –
Discouragement deep?

This came to me a few days ago. A friend said that it was good as far as it went,
but that there wasn't enough about God's chastisement. I added one sentence about
that later. At any rate, here it is. Comments are welcome.
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The title statement may seem shocking or incomprehensible. Evil brings much pain
and suffering to this world. Bitterness, hatred, trauma, violence, and it goes on
and on. History is littered with the consequences of evil.
But we need to know this: Love is something that can never be forced. You cannot
MAKE someone love you. You can attempt to make yourself more attractive to them
perhaps, but attracting the person doesn't necessarily mean they love you; they
may be out for their own pleasure, or trying to fulfill a need.
God's love, however, is totally pure. God IS love. He will never force us to
choose Him, and if He did, it wouldn't be real love; it would be a lie. Therefore,
God allows us to accept or reject Him. He doesn't want false love. He knows that
real love is a totally free decision.
Don't confuse what people may have presented to you as God's love; there may be
a confusion in your heart and mind between how people may have treated you,
how some bad things have happened to you, and what you would consider love.
Instead, go read the Bible and see how merciful God is to the woman caught in
adultery (John 8:1-11), or the book of Judges, where over and over God rescued
His wayward people, or the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, where God mercifully brings
back His people to Israel after a period of exile for their grievous sins.
Notice the story of Peter in John 18:15-18, 25-27 and 21:15-19, how Jesus gently
draws Peter back to Him after denying him three times. You will notice that God
is always offering love, even when people are doing wrong things.
You may not be aware of the things you are choosing. It may even be that some
people unconsciously choose or reject God's love. I am not the one to judge
whether you have accepted or rejected God. But, I do believe that if you reject
His love, evil will grow. Maybe you don't even realize you're doing it.
So, God allows us incredible freedom. He gives us real love, and He wants only
real love from us. It is our choice to accept His love or not. [His love can
include chastisement, but it's a loving chastisement designed to guide us back to
His truth.] The consequences of our choice are huge.